Matchmaker
by darkrunner
Summary: The students of Duel Academy know that duels have multiple uses. Matchmaking, for one. JouMai.
1. The Call

A/N: I posted on my profile that I was taking JouMai requestfics, and got one from arashi_wolf_princess. That was way back in the middle of the summer, and I apologize for not posting this sooner. It's even a fic I've been wanting to write for a while--I've got two others in the same universe, after all--so I SHOULD have written it.

Aaagh, ANOTHER post-Doom-Mai-feels-guilty-and-doesn't-want-to-face-Jou Fic. I've got so many of these. The internet has so many of these. Why did I add another? At least it's JouMai. There is so little of it out there.

Disclaimer: If I could make money off this thing, believe me, I would. As I do not own it, that is impossible.

* * *

Mai did not want to answer the phone. But this was the third time in a row that it had rung, and no one wanted, let alone knew how, to call her far as she knew. Annoyed, and a touch anxious, she flipped it open, and snapped as way of a greeting, "How did you get this number?"

Kaiba Seto was no less rude as he answered, "You owe me a favor."

It took her several seconds to respond. Everything that happened was the opposite of anything she expected. "Kaiba?"

"Yes. And you're going to come duel for me." He didn't bother asking. He wouldn't have even if she HADN'T caused him a huge mess with the Doom organization incident.

"..._Kaiba_?" She was processing the first piece of information, never mind his demand for a duel.

He gritted his teeth. "Keep up, Kujaku, I'm busy."

With effort, she stopped questioning the fact that yes, she was on the phone with _Kaiba Seto_--what on earth, he'd never so much as spoken directly to her before--and went back to his demand. "You want me to duel? I don't duel."

"It's not a 'want'. You're dueling. Or else my Duel Academy students are going to riot."

Mai'd had some pretty strange conversations in her life--usually also about Duel Monsters--but this was quickly topping the list. "What does the Duel Academy have to do with this?"

"Dammit. I'll explain it ONCE. The students of Duel Academy were polled about which professional duelists they would like to see duel at the school if possible. Well, they're taking it quite literally, and now I need to get a duel ready. You were voted, I don't know why, but you were. So you come here, duel, get a check, go home. The plane ticket will be mailed shortly."

"Who am I dueling?" There were quite a few details Kaiba left out of his description, but that was the one Mai was most concerned with. Even if Doom was years past, she still would rather not run into any familiar faces.

"I can't tell you that."

Oh no. That was not acceptable. "No way. You tell me who."

"Don't take that tone with me, Kujaku. I don't want _him_ dueling in my school anymore than you want to duel him."

"'Him'?" She blinked. She wasn't thinking of anyone specific.

"Jounouchi," Kaiba said. "He won't duel if I have anything to say about it."

Before she could protest, the line went dead. She pulled back from the receiver, staring at it.

She should have known.

* * *

When she really thought about it, though, it WAS Jounouchi that she wanted to avoid. There were all the others, Yuugi, Haga, Ryuzaki, the other Warriors, Otogi, Rebecca... but she could handle them. She was pretty sure she could. Armed with the promise of not having to duel Jounouchi and Kaiba's chartered plane ticket, she accepted the invitation. A few weeks and a short flight later, she was standing on the shores of Duel Academy.

"Hey there!" Someone too cheerful to be the elder Kaiba shouted. She looked, and was greeted now by the younger of the brothers.

"Mokuba." Oh no. He was on the list of "people that knew about Doom that she would rather never speak to again." "...Hello."

"You ready?" he beamed. Mai was stunned for a moment, but recovered, and nodded. He led her to the building where she would duel, chatting happily all the while. He was entirely too cheerful to still care about Doom. Inwardly, she sighed. That was a close one.

To the building they went, and an impressive structure it was. Mai looked at the obelisks--haha, very subtle, Kaiba--and the primary colors adorning the roofs. Without prompiting, Mokuba explained the rankings of the classes: Osiris at the bottom, Ra, then Obelisk. Mai rolled her eyes and could have laughed. No, subtlety wasn't Kaiba's strong suit.

A line of students stretched around the building, waiting to get their seats for the duel. Mai's eyes widened--she was dueling now? As in right now? Mokuba took her around to a side entrance to avoid the eager audience.

"So," he announced when he'd led her inside to what could only be described as a locker room. A locker room for duelists. It was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever seen. "Go ahead and get ready. We'll be starting within the hour. Someone'll come to get you. Good luck!"

"Wait!" She'd had Kaiba's word, but she was still worried. "Who am I dueling?"

"Can't tell you that," Mokuba grinned. "It's part of the fun."

Mai wasn't in the mood to joke around about this, though. "No, Mokuba, I'm not..." she didn't want to come straight out and say "I won't duel Jounouchi"... but then again, at this point... "I'm not dueling Jounouchi."

He shrugged, not giving any hints in his expression. "You'll see when you get out there. I suppose you can forfeit if you don't like the opponent, but the students might riot."

That was the second time she'd heard the threat of a student riot. What kind of school was Kaiba running, that it was so imminent any time she did something? Before she could say more, Mokuba slipped out of the room. She sighed.

She really should have known.

Nearly an hour later, she'd gone through her deck and side-deck a dozen times, and at last, someone entereted the room.

"Ready?" the elder Kaiba asked. She stood up quickly, feeling as though she ought to in his presence. It was the first time he'd seen her since she'd been trying to destroy the world. Although the by the time he actually saw her, she'd been outduled by Raphael. She never encountered Kaiba during the whole Doom incident, but he knew well enough what she'd done. She stared at him, not sure what to say.

"I'm sorry," she came out finally. He scoffed.

"For what? The incident with Dartz? Please. We handled you people easily. Especially you, you were just pining for Jounouchi from what I heard, turned on the rest of your group once he'd been stupid and got himself half-killed. Again." He didn't hold back, he gave it to her straight what happened with Doom.

"It's been over for years. So stop worrying about it, get out there, and duel."

She hadn't expected such comfort from Kaiba. In his own harsh way, he'd just told her that he knew what she did, but it was okay, and he'd never tell anyone.

"Thanks," she smiled for the first time on this trip. He turned around, now facing the door.

"Don't thank me yet." He held up a hand to the door. She started towards it.

"I... didn't have anything to say about it," he said through gritted teeth. Mai had already pulled the handle, but she whirled around to Kaiba, who had the closest to an apologetic look he could have on an expressionless face. The door, opened, flew open, and she was exposed to the students of Duel Academy. Their cheering doubled. She shouldn't have heard anything over the noise, but his voice cut through, soft as it was.

"Mai?"

She still faced Kaiba. He nodded, and she winced. No, no, dammit, no. He called again, louder, and she turned.

Jounouchi.


	2. The Duel

Jounouchi hadn't known anything beyond "come to the Academy and duel". He never thought that he'd be dueling Mai... well, no, that wasn't true. He had thought. Continously. Or rather, he'd hoped. It'd been so long, though, and he'd been hoping. It had seemed silly to really think she'd be his opponent.

It wasn't so silly now that he was standing in front of a thousand Academy students, staring at her back. It... it was her, right? He wouldn't put it past himself to be hallucinating. He called her name. She didn't move, and he felt a fool. Again. Dammit, again, he always did embarass himself when it came to her... Mai? It's not you?

She turned, and his stomach dropped. His mouth, too, but he didn't notice.

"Mai?" Well, that was a start. He managed to say something. Now if he could say something besides her name. Nothing came to mind, though. He just stared, words failing. So much had come between them when she had fought with Dartz. At the same time, so much had strengthened. Risking his life when they all wanted to kill Malik anyway was nice and all, but fighting her, when she was trying to kill him and he owed her nothing, that was something. If he hadn't known how he felt about her before he'd gone to America, he certainly knew after. He'd been happy to fight and nearly die. The question was, how did _she_ feel?

* * *

Mai wanted to run. Thousands of students and her own cowardice kept her standing where she was. Jounouchi stared at her, and she stared back.

"What are you doing here?" she finally got out. His smile fell. The question hurt him, and she winced. She hadn't meant to; it had slipped out. She wasn't supposed to duel HIM. Did he know he'd be dueing her? Why were things going so wrong?

"They asked me to duel," he answered in a level voice. The excitement was gone from him as well. The students cheered, not noticing the conversation playing out before them. The stands were a distracting, screaming mass of blues, yellows, and reds, but two duelists had eyes only for each other. "I didn't know it would be you," Jounouchi finished, his head down and voice low.

"I didn't mean..." she started, but swallowed it. What? She didn't mean to offend him? No she didn't, but did it really matter? It paled compared with what she had done to him before.

"I told them..." Mai hesitated. "...told them I'd duel if it wasn't you."

"Not me?" Jounouchi asked, head still lowered. His duel disk activated, and the students cheered louder. He said something more, lifting his head and looking right at her, but she could hear only the cheering.

The cards appeared in his hand before she noticed. With a flurry of lights, he summoned Blue Flame Swordsman. Mai mentally cringed at the familiar monster. He set two cards and it was her turn.

She drew a card, trying to read him. His eyes stayed down, refusing to meet hers. Was he mad at her? Would he just get the duel over with and not speak to her? That wouldn't be so bad. She summoned an Amazoness Paladin, its attack points matching those of the Swordsman, so she left it as it was.

Before she could end her turn, Jounouchi activated a trap. Her Paladin charged the Swordsman. With a clash of steel, both monsters struck and destroyed each other. Flame Swordsman appeared in place of its fallen comrade. Mai again started to call the end of her turn. Without a word, Jounouchi activated his second trap, and called his Blue Swordsman back from the graveyard. Mai stared at the two monsters on his side of the field, ready to attack as soon as she let them. He'd taken the upper hand so easily... was this the duelist she had become? She set a facedown card, but it was only a bluff until she could get a monster on the field.

Finally his turn, Jounouchi drew again. Mai had never heard him stay silent this long before. She wanted to say something. They could have the talk they'd needed since the whole business with the Orichalcos. They could talk, and work things out and be friends again.

Or she'd stand in place like an idiot while he beat her at Duel Monsters. Saying nothing, she watched him play a ritual spell. He discarded a card and a familar knight stepped onto the field. He didn't announce the name, and it didn't matter for it disappeared just as quickly, replaced by his trademark Red Eyes Black Dragon.

"Almost over," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. Was that supposed to reassure her? So she could get out of here more quickly? He had every right to be angry with her, but she wasn't used to it, and it was provking.

"At least one more turn," she shot back. "Red-Eyes can't attack." Still, the thought of facing it down the following turn with only 400 lifepoints wasn't encouraging.

"Yet." The three monsters on the field vanished. Mai blinked. He'd sacrifice his Red Eyes? The only monster of his with three tributes was... Gilford. But that wouldn't make sense, would it...?

She heard the dragon before she saw it. The students went crazy at the appearance of this rare monster. Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, she'd heard of, and Metal she knew he'd used against Keith. This was something beyond either of those.

"Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon," he explained, seeing her confusion. A regular Red-Eyes emereged onto the field with its advanced partner.

"Its effect," he gestured to the new Red-Eyes. Together, the monsters had 5200 attack points. Mai stared at them. No, things couldn't fall apart this fast. She couldn't lose to him in two turns. He raised his hand, and both dragons struck. Her life hit zero. Game end.


	3. The Talk

A/N: Wasn't going to post tonight, and then I noticed I'd updated the last chapter two days after the first, so I figured I should do the same with this chapter, since it was mostly written. I wound up changing the ending, though. Not what happens, just what they say.

This take on pre-Doom!Mai was inspired by chapter 47 of Scribbler's _As Deep As The Sky_.

* * *

The crowd cheered. Mai and Jounouchi watched each other, holographic smoke clearing from the field. He was too far, too expresionless for her to tell what he was thinking. She could say something now.

"Jounouchi," Mai called, and promptly forgot everything she wanted to say as he looked at her.

He spent the duel silent because he thought that's what she wanted. With the way she acted earlier, he thought she didn't... return his feelings. Now, hearing her call, he raised his head. There was hope again. If she didn't want to be with him, he would accept it. Or he would deal with it, at least. Whatever she said, it would decide everything. He knew what he wanted, now what did she want?

Now what? Staring, she could think of nothing to say to him. Nothing could change what happened between them. Students roared, and it filled her. They cheered for him. They were glad she lost. No one wanted her. Jounouchi didn't want her. She didn't want to duel him, he didn't want to duel her. The duel was over and done with, now they could leave and get on with their lives.

Jounouchi stepped forward, and the last bit of Mai that wanted to try to talk to him vanished.

"I wish... things hadn't turned out this way," she managed to get out. Turning her back on him, she walked out the way she came. If she wanted to leave, Jounouchi meant to let her leave. But as she walked away, he found himself unwilling to watch her go. Not with an answer like that.

His footsteps were lost under the cheers. He grabbed her shoulder before she knew he was there. Mai jumped, and he stepped back. Finally, she looked at him, but he glanced away. Jounouchi stood there; she watched him. What to do now? Run away again. That's what she was good at, right?

"Sorry," she muttered. Turning, Mai ran away from him once more.

"No," Jounouchi pleaded. He'd let her go too many times. "Wait."

Mai froze. Her head said, no, keep walking, but the rest of her wouldn't listen. She wanted to stay with him, how much she wanted it. Glancing over her shoulder, she finally caught his eye. He picked his head up, and he wasn't angry. He'd never been angry. Or at least not at her. She should have known that.

"What's that mean?" He asked. "How do you wish things would've turned out?"

"It doesn't matter," she muttered, trying to get away. He blocked her path.

"No," he said, firmly this time. "I won't watch you walk away again."

"Again," she repeated. "Yeah, I'm pretty good at it by now, aren't I?"

"No, that's not what I meant--" he tried, but she cut him off.

"It doesn't matter what you meant. It's true."

"Mai, you don't... it's not..." he tried, struggling for words. He had nothing to say to counter it.  
"Forget that. Will you just hang on a sec and talk to me?"

"What, here, now?" Mai was tempted. It wasn't like she wanted to abandon Joounouchi yet again, but if talking with him came at the cost of facing her own guilt, she'd rather run away. That, and thousands of students watched, suddenly quiet, trying to hear the duelists' conversation.

By the look on his face, Jounouchi didn't notice, let alone care about eavesdropping teenagers. "Yes, here, now. What do you wish would turn out different?"

"Stop it," she said angrily. "Get out of the way."

"What does it mean?!" he shouted. He was losing it, but he didn't care. The chance would never come again if Mai disappeared now. He had to know what was between them. Please.

"I wish I wouldn't always run away!" As soon as she'd said it, she wished she hadn't. It was getting too hard for her to leave. She couldn't face these things right now, why did he have to drag them out of her?

"Then... don't," Jounouchi replied after a short silence.

Walk away, she told her herself. "I can't. Nothing good ever comes when I stick around," she replied. "Maybe that's why I like to travel. I never could stay in one place. Always had to move around, ever since my parents--" she stopped. She talked too much. That wasn't something she wanted to bring into this conversation.

"Your parents?" Jounouchi realized, with some guilt, that he knew nothing about her family.

"I never could settle down," Mai ignored his question. Dealing with her immediate past was bad enough, let alone her time as an orphan.

"Mai...?" She wouldn't meet his eyes, but the conern in his voice still made her cringe. With that tone, she could picture his face, somber for a change, wishing he could make things better. How could she stand his concern when she was relating the details of her betrayal?

"Not even to stay away from you, no, I kept going back and forth. If I hated you so much, I should have stayed away. I was messed up, you've no idea how messed up I was, but that's no excuse--"

"Yes it IS," he said firmly, cutting her off. "The Orichalcos screwed with your head. Malik screwed with your head. The world kicked you in the ditch, you didn't have any friends, and--"

"Thanks, that makes me feel better."

"People've had less to deal with and done worse!" He shouted, startling her. He was upset enough to stop her from replying with something sarcastic again. "I've done worse! The only thing Malik did was tell me to kill Yuugi, and I tried to kill Yuugi. After all the stuff we'd been through, I forgot about it all beacuse Malik had a damn magic stick. Nearly did kill him, and you all told me to just forget about it.

"You won't let yourself off the hook for the Orichalcos, how do you think that makes ME feel? Malik did all that crap to you during the duel, tortured you for all that time, nearly killed you, and left you screwed up for months afterward. Then the Orichalcos came in and did I don't know what..."

Mai heard him berating her, but even though it made sense, something in her still carried the guilt. Jounouchi had been possessed. She did it of her own free will. But when he called up images of Malik, memories she tried to block resurfaced. 'screwed up'... he had no idea. And the Orichaclos! What it had done...!

"It took it away," she blurted. She looked through him, remembering. "After Malik, I couldn't do anything, I was too afraid, too... I don't even know what. It was like there was something inside of me, like... like a poison, eating away at me, and I couldn't get it out. And then Varon showed up, and it went away." She laughed, a little crazed. "I hadn't felt so alive in months! I could live again, I actually felt worthy enough to live again... and I got it in my head that I had to prove it..."

She blinked, and focused back on Jounouchi. "I thought it fixed me. I was as good as dead after Battle City, and when it made that go away... I thought it was right, even if it made me want to duel you. I thought..."

It was the first time she'd let herself admit the Orichalcos caused her betrayal. All this time, she'd taken it all on herself. She thought she was weak to make excuses. Being weak had gotten her into the mess in the first place. She wanted to be strong. Strength was blaming everything on herself. Strength was staying away from Jounouchi, even if he forgave her, and even if she wanted to see him again...

"If I blamed myself... I thought... that would make up for it. I blamed the world for forcing me to the Orichalcos, and so if took the blame myself this time, then I wouldn't make the same mistakes."

"Why didn't you come back, then?" he asked. "If you wanted to change... since you stayed away before."

"I don't know. I wanted to," she tried to find words. "...but I couldn't face you."

"Can you now?" he asked. "Will you... will you stay this time?"

Stay. There were so many meanings behind that question. "I don't know," she repeated.

"Mai... if it's the Orichalcos stuff, I don't care. We can work through it." Jounouchi stepped towards her, taking her hand. "I just want you to stay."

"Jounouchi..." she looked at their hands. It felt right. We. "That's not it... I don't... I can't stay in one place, I can't settle. You won't want me to be around that long." The excuses were pathetic. She just couldn't commit.

"I will," he insisted. "I'll go with you. We won't settle."

"You want me to stay, you want to go with me... What do want from me, Jounouchi?"

"I want... to stay with you."

"Why?" He'd nearly died at her hands, and he still wanted to stay with her. What had she done to deserve that?

"Nng..." Jounouchi hesitated. "I don't want to say... 'f you don't feel the same... I don't want to put that on you."

Her heart beat faster as she looked up, stunned. "Jounouchi?" His head lowered, but she could catch him blushing. There was only one thing that kind of answer could mean. She felt his hand, and laced her fingers through his. Taking a breath to steady herself, she replied. "Tell me. Please."

His hand tightened. "Mai, I love you."

That was it. Now it was her turn. If she said no, she was free to go, free to leave him alone for the rest of her life. But if he forgave her, and if she could forgive _herself _after what they'd been through, then leaving him alone wasn't an option. Shewanted to stay with him. She wanted to say the same thing back to him, but how did she feel? Could she say it? Could she mean it? She'd prompted him to reveal his feelings, it was only fair that she'd do the same.

"If you don't... don't want to answer, or y'want me to leave, or whatever, just say it--" Jounouchi offered, but Mai moved and her arms found their way around him.

"I want to answer," she murmured, feeling his hand on her back, unsure of what her embrace meant. "I... don't know if I can. Will you wait?"

"'course I will." His arms tightened, more confident. But he hesitated again. "...can I be with you while I wait?"

She pulled back, to look at him, and nodded.

"Yeah?" he smiled, hoping, moving closer.

"Yeah," she admitted, his smile catching. Eyes met. They moved together, unknowing, on instinct. His hand on her face, her arm around his neck, they kissed to the sound of thousands of cheering Duel Academy students.


	4. The Matchmakers

A/N: Was going to wait for more reviews to make sure everyone watching had read chapter 3, but today's Jou's birthday. Not that this has anything to do with Jou, but it seemed like a good time to post.  
I love writing GX characters in short bits like this. XD They're so much fun.

Judai - Jaden  
Sho - Syrus  
Asuka - Alexis  
Manjoume - Chazz

* * *

"Why's everyone cheering? That duel was so short!" Judai lamented, having anticpated a long, glorious battle between two famous duelists.

"Bro... I don't think anyone came for the duel," Sho suggested.

"What?! Then what would they come for?!" The idea of something being more imporant than a duel was unthinkable. Then again, many concepts that didn't have to do with dueling were incomprehensible to Judai, including, but not limited to, fiancées, tennis, and staying awake in class.

"Have you seen the Battle City DVDs, Judai-kun?" Asuka asked, trying to ease the boy into the idea. Manjoume shook his head at the Red's ignorance--he didn't care about the romance, of course, but at least he was _aware_ of it. Judai nodded furiously, not noticing Manjoume's reaction.

"Do you remember when Miss Kujaku dueled Malik Ishtar?" Again, Judai nodded. "Okay. Think about that."

Thinking itself was not very common to Judai. Putting a hand to his chin, he looked at the ceiling. Winged Kuriboh popped up on his shoulder, chirping, but to no avail. To Judai's credit, he did _try_ to figure it out. Asuka even prompted again, "The end of the duel. When Ra attacked."

"Oh yeah!" Judai exclaimed, snapping his fingers. Asuka nodded, smiling, happy that her friend was able to understand. "I know that part! Jounouchi ran onto the duel arena, followed by Yuugi. Ra attacked, and Miss Kujaku lost the duel." Judai's momentary look of triumph was replaced by the previous confusion. "But... what does it have to do with anything?" Judai looked to his friends, none of whom knew how to explain this concept to their duel-obsessed classmate.

"Just... keep thinking about it," Asuka said finally, turning her attention back to Jounouchi and Mai. "You'll get it eventually." Judai sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"Ah well, at least we got to see them duel at all,: he mused, picking out the bright spot in the situation, as always. "Wouldn't it be awesome if they could get Yuugi, though...?"

Judai lost himself in his thoughts--a very rare occasion which only happened in conjunction with dueling--while Asuka cheered for the duelists on the field.


End file.
